An Army get-together

An Army get-together

Since his appointment as Army chief of staff, Gen. Ryamizard
Ryacudu has twice organized reunions for retired generals his
senior as well as for his active juniors, just to maintain good
relations. This is a good step, because with these nostalgic
meetings, his seniors can feel that they are not forgotten and
the juniors have a chance to exchange ideas and get advice from
their experienced seniors.

But not everybody, especially those outside the military
circle, like the politicians, was happy with them and they felt
uneasy because they suspected that the nostalgia was just a
cover-up for more serious matters at hand. This was expressed by
The Jakarta Post on Feb. 21, which covered the reunion in a
front-page story, headlined Army wants power again.

This conclusion was based on Ryacudu's statement that the
military's security role should be reinstated due to threats of
separatism and other security disturbances, and because the Army
was very concerned with the country's territorial integrity.

A prominent politician from the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS) by the name of Philips J. Vermonte
wrote in the Post on Feb. 25 that there was no reason to give
power back to the Army and his one and only main reason for
saying this was that the statement had bypassed a chain of
command within the military. It is strange that such a prominent
person, who is a member of a respected organization such as the
CSIS, backed his political statement by using the very naive
reason of bypassing the chain of command. If there was no
bypassing, then, according to Philips J. Vermonte, the military
could be given back its power.

Since the Post is widely read by foreigners, especially
diplomats, the articles might give the wrong impression and cause
some confusion since the Post is turning a purely technical
statement into a political one.

The military is well aware of the antimilitary atmosphere,
caused by the law on dual function, which politicians feel is a
barricade to their political role and domination. But it should
not be forgotten that the dual function was based on a law and
the law was not enacted by the military, but by the House of
Representatives (DPR) and the government, and the military is
just following the order of the law.

SOEGIH ARTO
Jakarta